Midcentury modern filled with DIY touches
Helio Ha and Kelly Winter have learned new skills, from refinishing to wiring to textile design, as they made their mark on a 1960s home in Huntingdon Valley.
Growing up in Brazil and raised mostly by his grandmother, Helio Ha said his home was utilitarian at best. His wife, Kelly Winter, on the other hand, remembers the feeling of growing up outside of Boston in a creative household where things were usually fixed by hand.
The couple, who met in Philadelphia after college, have followed her lead, making their first house in Montgomery County a cozy, midcentury modern retreat.
Having rented in Northern Liberties for several years, they began their search in December of 2019 with the goal of staying within 40 minutes of Bala Cynwyd where she works in financial services. Helio, a software engineer, works from home.
“In March of 2020, everything stopped. Everything shut down,” she said. ”We weren’t even sure if we were going to be able to buy a house.”
At first, they fell in love with a midcentury-inspired house in nearby Rydal but got beaten out by a cash offer. It was July 2020 when they stumbled on their 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom ranch on a tree-lined street in Huntington Valley.
“We wanted to find an older home that was very well maintained,” she said. “We wanted to do the renovations ourselves without too much structural work. I love this house. It has great bones. It just felt right.”
Kelly, who studied applied math and art in college, was excited about the challenge of keeping the home true to its time. After almost five years of renovations and several road trips to find the right pieces, every object in their 1960s house has a story.
They started with the front door. A solid wood door with a transom window was difficult to find. After much research, they hired a custom door maker from Pittsburgh, who crafted theirs from Spanish Cedar. “It was a good learning experience,” she said.
In the living room, they had to replace the expansive, floor-to-ceiling windows. They found the perfect midcentury modern teak couch. The tear-shaped coffee table came from her grandfather. The dramatic lamp came from an estate sale down the street.
“There are a lot of places that are a bit of a time capsule around here,” she said.
In the adjacent dining room sits a large wooden table. Found on Craigslist, it was Kelly’s first foray into refinishing a piece.
“I had to do it three times,” she said.
They acquired a wall-length hutch, complete with a record player and speakers, on a road trip to upstate New York. It originally came from Germany.
In the living room, what started as a 2-foot Bird of Paradise from Home Depot now stretches 9-feet tall and provides privacy.
A large cactus came from Long Island, brought down on a U-haul trailer, which is more cost effective than a truck. The succulent reminds Kelly of her grandmother, who lived in Albuquerque.
Helio does most of the plant care, but “I was not a plant person before I met Kelly,” he said.
In the kitchen, the couple dug out three layers of flooring — white linoleum from the 1980s, mustard-yellow linoleum from the 1970s, and the 1960s gray linoleum beneath — and replaced it with vinyl sheet flooring. They replaced the oak panel cabinets with natural maple to complete the midcentury vibe and designed the door handles themselves. The light fixture was also a DIY project, constructed from several glass orbs.
They decided to keep the bathroom in its original pink. A den and office is decorated with pieces by local artists. The basement has become a workshop and art studio.
Outside, they outfitted an antique gas pump from Virginia as an electric car charger. Kelly wanted something special.
“We didn’t have a garage. They all looked so boring,” she said.
Over the years, each project became an opportunity to learn a new skill, Kelly said, including furniture refinishing, electrical wiring, cabinet refacing and veneering, exterior door installation, and textile design.
“We have done our best to choose furniture and finishes that are either of the time period, or in the spirit of midcentury modern principles and aesthetics,” she said. “Putting everything together has been a fun hobby and a creative outlet for both of us.”
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